Five New Albums Worth Your Dime

Five New Albums Worth Your Dime

1. Perfume Genius, Learning(Take note of this debut album. Perfume Genius is the stage name of Seattle singer-songwriter Mike Hadreas, and the recordings are simple compositions delivered with confident piano and Sufjan Stevens-like vocal wails. A sparse sound, which marries lo-fi and atmosphere, but also plenty of memorable moments.)

2. Foals, Total Life Forever(These Oxford rockers go expansive on their second LP, taking their dance-punk sound into soaring territory. At times, they sound like Coldplay and at other times, they sound like Kaiser Chiefs.)

3. School of Seven Bells, Disconnect From Desire(Twin sisters and a former member of Secret Machines return with their second album of shoe-gazey pop. Softer than their rollicking debut, they bring a terrific sound for fans of Cocteau Twins and Lush.)

4. Big Boi, Sir Lucious Left Foot…The Son Of Chico Dusty(One of the most-delayed hip-hop albums ever, Outkast’s Big Boi doesn’t deliver the massive disappointment we all feared. He also doesn’t deliver a masterpiece, but instead gives us a respectable follow-up to The Love Below. Smooth and psychedelic in equal measures, a good summer rap album.)

5. Admiral Radley, I Heart California(Members of Grandaddy and Earlimart unite for this side project, which ends up sounding precisely as it should: sun-kissed rock, lightly brushed with a electronic flourishes.)